By Ernest Makhaya

South African Football Association (Safa) is facing a tough challenge of clearing their names for reportedly misusing funds meant for development of football in this country

According to Sunday Times, the South African football governing body (Safa) has reportedly made a loss believed to be over R54 million for the year until June 2012.

The matter has been pursued by the country’s Olympic committee, Sascoc who claim that Safa is bankrupt and that the bosses were forced to take the World Cup cash to cover the cost of running the association.

However, Safa CEO Dennis Mumble said that there is no truth in the allegations and he is convinced that Sascoc members are looking to drag the association’s name in the mud, as they approach the elections in September.

“We are in the midst of dirty campaign for elections coming up in September. It’s easy to smear people with wild allegations, but where is the proof?” Mumble told Sunday Times.

Apparently Safa received R113-million in the past two years from the “Fifa World Cup legacy fund” for the development of football in this country and R8-million from that money was used to buy Mercedes-Benzes and other unnamed luxuries.

Mumble admitted that R8-million of the World Cup cash was used to buy Mercedes-Benzes in 2011 and he added that the purpose of buying these cars was to make Safa officials “more mobile”.

Safa vice-president, Danny Jordan who is responsible for the financial matters within the association, told Goal.com that Safa won’t comment on the allegations until they bring the situation under control.

“We have agreed not to make any further comments on the matter until we bring the situation under control,” Jordan told Goal.com.